“Train us, bring us into Flashtime with you,” says Cisco (Carlos Valdez) to Barry (Grant Gustin). Cisco wants his speedster friend to get he and Caitlin ready to help stop DeVoe (Neil Sandilands) and “The Enlightenment” once and for all in season four episode 22 of The Flash.
As the episode begins, Diggle (David Ramsey) arrives at an A.R.G.U.S. facility where Fallout is being kept. He tells the guards to lower the power-reducing shields and after they do, he comments on the modern music one of the guards is listening to and disapproves. He changes it to Handel’s “Messiah” and reveals himself as DeVoe (Neil Sandilands) who shapeshifted into Diggle to fool them. DeVoe takes on the guards using his multiple meta powers. To their credit, the guards put up a good fight but are no match for DeVoe. He kills most of them, leaving a few hostages alive as he enters the chamber where Fallout is being kept. He begins to have Fallout heat up.
Team Flash checks out all the major airfields where DeVoe could possibly launch a satellite and all is normal. Harry’s (Tom Cavanagh) brain is getting worse and, taking pity on him, Iris (Candice Patton) invites him to help her do some investigating to find Marlize (Kim Engelbrecht). He accepts.
Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) pays a visit to Barry and Iris’s therapist Dr. Finkle to see if she can find a way to bring back Killer Frost without telling her, of course, that she used to be Killer Frost. Finkle asks about her childhood suggesting she might be repressing something traumatic, but Caitlin shoots down that idea saying her other personality only appeared recently. Caitlin gets an alert and apologizes to Dr. Finkle, telling her has to go.
The gang receives a message from one of the scientists that DeVoe is after Fallout. Barry speeds over to Starling City and brings back Diggle, who’s once again made ill by speeding with Barry. They need to know from Diggle which facility Fallout is housed in. Diggle reveals it’s called The Castle and is very secure. However, when he checks into their security system, he realizes it says he checked into The Castle six hours ago. Team Flash realize it’s DeVoe posing as Diggle. They also discover what he’s up to. DeVoe will use Fallout as a “battery” to power all five of his satellites to begin The Enlightenment. The countdown has begun and they have 12 hours to stop him.
The A.R.G.U.S. facility is protected by plates that will electrocute Barry if he tries to speed in and grab DeVoe. They’ll also explode killing the hostages DeVoe has hovering over the plates. Barry realizes his best bet is to use Flashtime but even with moving so fast it seems as though time is standing still, he won’t be able to save the hostages and stop DeVoe from escaping.
Over at Joe’s house, he and Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) are getting ready for her to give birth when Cecile takes on a new personality. She starts talking like a young surf kid and when the pizza delivery guy shows up with dinner, Joe (Jesse L. Martin) realizes Cecile has adopted his personality. Off they go to see Caitlin.
At S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin checks over Cecile and tells her that her being so close to giving birth is messing with her hormones which in turn is giving her this new meta power, which Cecile begins to demonstrate by taking on Caitlin’s personality. Caitlin gives her an inhaler that should help and tells her to try to stay secluded until it’s time to deliver.
Cisco and Catlin approach Barry and tell him they want to be trained to enter Flashtime with him to stop DeVoe. They inform Barry they’ve been studying his new powers. It’s not just about “vibrating molecules” but also that when he moves that fast, he’s creating a Speed Force aura around him and the people near him. This means he could do that with Cisco and Caitlin long enough (technically about a second in real-time) for Cisco and Caitlin to save the hostages while Barry uses the power from the plates and the speed force to follow DeVoe through his dimension portal and catch him. Barry’s hesitant, but Cisco and Caitlin insist.
Training begins and at first it’s going well. Both Caitlin and Cisco can move with Barry in Flashtime surrounded by his aura. But when Cisco tries to create a breach, he has trouble, loses his concentration to frustration, and is knocked out of the Flashtime. Team Flash takes a break from training. (Uh, hello, only 12 hours before DeVoe’s Enlightenment and they’ve already wasted a few arguing about training!)
Meanwhile, Iris and Harry are theorizing about where Marlize might be and Harry gets on Iris’s nerves by insisting they should try to put themselves in Marlize’s shoes, sometimes literally. Iris snaps at Harry that Marlize is dangerous, reminding him how she stabbed her with a sword and has to be caught and put in the pipeline. Iris storms off telling Harry she’ll continue the investigation on her own.
Caitlin and Cisco get back to training with Barry in Flashtime and this time Cisco’s able to breach an opening. Unfortunately, when Caitlin tries to use the cold gun it won’t work. She gets frustrated and starts to come out of Flashtime while Barry tells her to focus. Caitlin flashes on a memory of her as a child falling off her bike and getting pinned to it with a truck headed right for her and a man yelling her name. Caitlin gets pulled out of Flashtime and is thrown by the force of the speed into the wall.
Caitlin wakes up in the medical bay with Barry and Cisco by her side. They tell her what happened and she says she’s fine and they should get back to training. Barry’s upset Caitlin almost got seriously injured and calls off the training. He thinks he doesn’t have enough time to train them for their plan to work and says he’ll come up with a new plan.
Harry visits Iris and she reluctantly lets him. He apologizes for being so pushy but still insists Marlize is the key to stopping DeVoe. He points out that before Marlize met DeVoe she was devoted to saving the planet and believed in technology. Iris still doesn’t want to hear it and tells him he’s bringing in dirt to her home where she feels safe. And, bingo! Iris realizes where Marlize is hiding…England, where she first met DeVoe.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco asks Barry if he’s figured it out yet. Barry admits he hasn’t come up with an idea that lets him save the hostages and stop DeVoe. Cisco says he wasn’t asking about that but wants to know why Barry’s being so selfish and stubborn about letting him and Caitlin help. Barry begins to say he wants to keep them safe, but Cisco is fed up with that excuse.
Things get heated as Caitlin, Iris, and Harry walk in. They hear Barry telling Cisco that he lost Ralph and he can’t lose his two best friends, too. He tells Cisco how Ralph visited him when he was in prison and admitted he was scared and wasn’t ready to be a hero. Barry confesses he pushed Ralph and now he’s gone. Cisco counters by reminding Barry that it was the actions he and Caitlin took to get him out of the speed force that put DeVoe’s plan into effect. Cisco claims he’s responsible for everything that’s happened so far. Cisco tells Barry he has no right to bench them. Barry looks over at Caitlin and asks if she’s sure she wants to do this. She replies, “It’s not a burden if we shoulder it together.”
Cisco and Caitlin breach in front of the A.R.G.U.S. facility and Barry speeds there. After a brief argument over naming Caitlin’s new gun and finally deciding to call it an “ice shooter,” the trio move in to stop DeVoe. The Flash touches the power plates to get extra energy to be able to follow DeVoe through his portal while Cisco and Caitlin, in Flashtime with Barry, use the ice shooter and breach to get the frozen and hovering hostages out to safety.
Barry speeds through the closing portal and is able to follow DeVoe. Barry sees DeVoe send a satellite up in the sky and races up. He uses Amunet’s metal shard bomb to destroy it. “We did it,” says a very happy Barry out loud but DeVoe mocks him, saying, “Congratulations, you destroyed a satellite.” He continues talking about the upcoming enlightenment. “Did I teach you nothing this year? Did nothing pierce that thick cowl?! Think of it – a world enlightened.” DeVoe believes within a day all soldiers will put down their arms and every nuclear weapon will be disarmed within six months. Poverty, famine, and disease will be eradicated. Plus, people will put down their phones and become curious again. He also believes he’ll teach everyone once The Enlightenment arrives, ultimately saving the world.
Barry replies, “No, you’ll just control it. You want to take away free will.” DeVoe says it’s a small price for peace but Barry doesn’t agree. “But we wouldn’t know each other! Parents wouldn’t remember their kids, husbands wouldn’t remember their wives,” says Barry. This hits a nerve with DeVoe and he tells Barry, “Good, you hit on precisely the point. Emotion is the father of all error. Chemicals in our brain that destroy us, impede progress, and the most destructive and imbalance of all is that thing you feebles call love…I learned this from experience.” With that, DeVoe leaves through another portal.
Iris and Harry use a portal to the first place Marlize and DeVoe lived together. Marlize comes out looking to fight but Harry intervenes. He tries to explain why they’re there but has difficulty getting words out. Marlize realizes Harry’s experiencing the stages of The Enlightenment. Iris tells Marlize they must stop her husband because he’s gone too far. She’s sure Marlize is aware of this since she left him. Iris reminds Marlize of a speech she gave about optimism being stronger than pessimism and that deep down she believes Marlize is an optimist. Iris says, “You asked me what I was willing to do for my husband, and now I’m going to ask you what are you willing to do for the world.”
Outside the facility, Caitlin asks Cisco for help and tells him she saw a fragment of a terrifying memory from her childhood when they were training. Cisco asks if she’s sure and she is – and she has to know what happened. He vibes them and they see Caitlin as a young girl free of her bike and reaching for the broken rearview mirror of the truck that almost hit her. Young Caitlin looks into the mirror and sees young Killer Frost in the reflection. She screams as a man asks if she’s okay and not to do that. After the Vibe, Cisco says, “Killer Frost was a part of you even then.” Caitlin replies, “The particle accelerator hadn’t exploded. How is that possible?!”
Cisco and Caitlin arrive at S.T.A.R. Labs to see that Barry knocked down one of the satellites. Barry enters and the alarms sound. Caitlin says the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite has been activated and Barry realizes it’s DeVoe. He’s using their satellite to replace the one Barry destroyed. DeVoe is locked in the secret room with Gideon and puts the power source that was Fallout inside the computer. “Let there be light,” says DeVoe. It seems The Enlightenment has just started.
The Flash Season 4 Episode 22:
Extremely well written, action-packed, and with some cute humor, season four episode 22 titled “Think Fast” is another first-rate episode this season. The episode finally revealed what’s been motivating DeVoe toward his master “Enlightenment” plan. It also included the surprise revelation that Killer Frost has been inside Caitlin since she was a child.
The stand-out performance goes to guest star Neil Sandilands who truly shines here as DeVoe’s about to give birth to his plan. The opening scene showing him using all the different meta powers he’s absorbed to take on and put down the guards at the facility is one of the best openings to a The Flash episode, period. The music of Handel’s “Messiah” in the background as he sees himself as a savior of the world while he kills most of the guards is powerful and captures just how mad DeVoe has become. In the scene later in the episode where DeVoe reveals to Barry how he believes The Enlightenment will save the world, Sandilands displays so effortlessly the false hubris and emotional hurt he’s filled with by his wife Marlize leaving him.
This episode also sets in motion what should be the blueprint of future episodes of the series…original Team Flash – Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco – working together in the field and saving the day as a true superhero team. This is what most fans have been waiting for since the reveal of Cisco and Caitlin’s powers in seasons two and three. Early in the episode, the writers have Cisco calling DeVoe a “one-man Legion of Doom” who needs to go up against “The Super Friends.” Here’s hoping this will be the new formula for the series in seasons to come: The Flash: Trinity.
As DeVoe launches his mind-wiping “Enlightenment,” it should be exciting and thrilling to see how Team Flash will stop the evil mastermind and save the Earth’s population from having their minds rebooted. Go Team Flash!
GRADE: B+
More on The Flash Season 4:
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 1 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 2 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 3 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 4 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 5 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 6 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 7 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 8 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 9 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 10 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 11 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 12 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 13 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 14 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 15 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 16 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 17 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 18 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 19 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 20 Recap
– The Flash Season 4 Episode 21 Recap
